Gregory A. Freeman The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All for the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II

This daring operation remained largely unknown for six decades afterward, due to government red tape, political machinations, and lack of public interest. It was stored mainly in top-secret files and the minds of the men who experienced it. Now, drawing on recently declassified documents in the United States, Britain, and former Yugoslavia, The Forgotten 500 brings Halyard into the revealing light of day.

The Forgotten 500 successfully achieved its goal of telling the story of a large rescue operation that was unjustifiably unknown and the gallantry of anonymous Serbs who played small but nevertheless important parts in the ultimate defeat of Germany.

The best part of the book was getting to know some of the personalities involved, and learning about the incredible rescue that took place against unbelievable odds.

In the latter part of the book, Freeman spent many pages on Mihailovic, whom he spoke of with favoring bias; stress was placed on his stern anti-Communist stance, his loyalty toward the Yugoslavian monarchy, and how he was abandoned by the Western Allies as the result of international politics, but the author also conveniently left out Mihailovic's brutality against Croats and Muslims.

The storytelling was repetitive and occasionally clunky, and reviews seem to indicate that he gets some of the easily verifiable historical facts incorrect.